By Rina N. Risper
The New Citizens Press
E. LANSING, MI — Being a mentor in your profession is an honorable avocation. It’s one that requires long hard hours and it’s a position that’s not salaried. For Dr. Percy Pierre there has been a lifetime of commitment to serve a population of students at Michigan State University (MSU) and other universities in the highly technical fields of electrical and computer engineering. He’s being honored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for his extraordinary dedication to increasing the number of African-American and Hispanic American Ph.D.s in Engineering.
Dr. Pierre will receive the 2008 AAAS Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement during a ceremony on February 14 at the 2009 AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago. The AAAS is an international non-profit organization dedicated to advancing science around the world by serving as an educator, leader, spokesperson and professional association. In addition to organizing membership activities, AAAS publishes the journal Science.
Many people assume that Dr. Pierre has retired from MSU but he’s still active as an emeritus professor, where he continues to advise and direct students.
He earned his doctoral degree in electrical engineering from The Johns Hopkins University, and his Master’s and undergraduate degrees from The University of Notre Dame, where he remains a trustee. He’s recognized as the first African American to earn a doctorate in electrical engineering.
In addition to launching the first doctoral programs in electrical and mechanical engineering at Howard University, Dr. Pierre’s many accomplishments have included playing a key role in establishing the National Action Council for Minority Engineers, or NACME. Through the Sloan Engineering Program at MSU, he has mentored 27 African American and Hispanic doctoral graduates in engineering.
Dr. Pierre said, “Without the support of my family, friends and colleagues this award would have not been possible. I think about all of the people who have influenced me. It was natural to give back.”
In college, he had a professor who worked with him on projects and it was through those projects that he began to enjoy and understand engineering. He said it’s more than just the math and science. It’s about building things that work.
Dr. Pierre explained that sometimes the learning process is frustrating and a mentor can help the student focus on real life experiences while combining it with classroom teaching. A mentor helps the student understand how the real science works.
The internet is a fabulous engineering invention Dr. Pierre said enthusiastically.
“At the heart of the internet is “packet switching”, this idea has led to what we know today as the internet,” said Dr. Pierre.
According to Wikipedia, packet switching is a network communications method that splits data traffic (digital representations of text, sound, or video data) into chunks, called packets, that are then routed over a
shared network.
Despite, the technical nature of the explanation of packet switching, Dr. Pierre believes that if we were to start teaching these concepts to middle school students now, we might possibly be able to increase the population of minority students.
During the course of his career, he said that he has participated in many activities that encourage minorities in high school to choose engineering as a major.
Dr. Pierre said that training to become an engineer begins in 6th and 7th grade.
MSU as well as other universities and colleges operate K-12 programs for students. Any student who wants to learn about the possibilities in engineering should go online and search the internet. Parents also have to take an active role and make sure that their children take as much math and science as possible. Dr. Pierre said the concept of taking more math and science may fall by the wayside after 7th grade when students aren’t encouraged to take math and science as electives. In the upper grades, higher math and science classes are not required at some schools.
“Teachers respond to what parents demand. The message is take math and science because you need the math and science as a base. Biology is not medicine that doctors practice but you need biology to become a doctor,” said Dr. Pierre, “just as you need math and science to become an engineer.”
He added that the creativity comes in the projects that engineers do and they will not be able to express themselves with out the math science.
Currently, he enjoys working with MSU graduate students and also provides financial support to the program to supplement the fees and the stipends that are paid for the students.
Dr. Pierre said, “The graduate program at MSU encourages you to be the best in a supportive environment with the least amount of distractions as possible.”
Recruiting for the graduate engineering program, is one of Dr. Pierre’s most rewarding duties. He recruits at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. One of Dr. Pierre’s graduate students went to the University of Puerto Rico to teach 15 years ago and that relationship has blossomed.
“We have cultivated that relationship. I’m proud to say that we have many students coming to our program as a result of that relationship. We have 5 students who are now teaching other students at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. Mentoring and providing support makes a big impact,” said Dr. Pierre.
He explained that there are many different occupations available in both the computer and electrical engineering field. Some trained as engineers will do different things over the course of their career. Initially, they may design components; subsequently, they may manage projects and deal with some of the business aspects. They may work in manufacturing, distribution or planning. There are many different opportunities in engineering in utilities, automotive and computers as well.
Dr. Pierre said, “The idea is that in order to produce a product as complex as an HDTV, you need many engineers that contribute to the creation, design, manufacturing, distributing and the servicing of the product.”
He also added that in the future almost everything that’s made will have a computer as he pointed to a small electric heater and he also added that software engineering will continue grow.
Dr. Pierre has been a stellar teacher and mentor and has definitely impacted the climate of MSU’s underrepresented groups in the electrical engineering programs. He hopes that the future will shine brighter through having more prepared African-American and Hispanic electrical engineers.
For more information log on to www.egr.msu.edu/dpo.
